5 Views of East Side Show Room.

While having drinks with two dear friends here on Tuesday, I was reminded about how this little bar came to be:

Mickie Danae Spencer, who opened East Side Show Room with her mom and sister, is a welder.  Open the red door above, and you'll see her curvy Alice in Wonderland-like chairs and metal handiwork all over the place.

Mickie lived in Spain for a while, then Brooklyn's east side, where she also operated an East Side Show Room.  When she moved back to Austin in 2008, she had just broken up with her boyfriend.  So had her sister, Mindie.  And to top it off, their mother Trudy had just divorced her husband.  A rough love year for the Spencer ladies.

So they all moved in together, pooled their life savings, and bought the future home of (Austin's) East Side Show Room, on East Sixth and Medina.  They took out a loan, and got to work.

Then, in late 2008, the economy crashed.  Their loan evaporated. 

The space was only halfway done, too decorated to strip and resell, too incomplete to open.

So some friends came out, and helped them finish the bar.  Painting, hammering, wallpapering, bar-stocking.  When you go inside, the intricate decor almost takes your breath away.  It was a labor of love in the truest sense of the word.

And you feel that each time you're in there.